Crumb sweeper and the like

ABSTRACT

A crumb sweeper and the like comprising, a housing formed of a pair of sections hingedly joined and detachably interlocked which supports a rotatable brush so that when the sweeper is moved over a surface which has crumbs and the like, the brush bristles will pick up the crums, and wherein the sweeper has means engaging the bristles as the brush member rotates for the purpose of dislodging the picked up crumbs from said bristles so that said dislodged crumbs will be emptied into a trough in the housing member.

United States Patent 1 Kupperman et al.

[451 Nov. 2%, 1973 CRUMB SWEEPER AND TlliELllKlE [76] Inventors: SamKuppermdn; Dennis 11.

Kupperman, both of 4139 Main St., Skokie, Ill.

22 Filed: Feb. 11, 1972 21 Appl. No.: 225,423

[52] [1.5. Ci. 15/48 [51] Int. Cl A4171 11/00 [58] Field of Search15/4-1 R, 42, 48

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,706,039 3/1929 Owen 15/483,594,841 7/1971 Kieves.. 15/41 R 3,618,153 11/1971 Coult 15/423,651,529 3/1972 Popeil 15/73 Primary Examiner-Edward L. RobertsAttorney-Max R. Kraus [57] ABSTRACT A crumb sweeper and the likecomprising, a housing formed of a pair of sections hingedly joined anddetachably interlocked which supports a rotatable brush so that when thesweeper is moved over a surface which has crumbs and the like, the brushbristles will pick up the crums, and wherein the sweeper has meansengaging the bristles as the brush member rotates for the purpose ofdislodging the picked up crumbs from said bristles so that saiddislodged crumbs will be emptied into a trough in the housing member.

6 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENIED um 20 ms v u oooooooooooooooo ofoOOOOO0 00000000000000 CRUMB SWEEPER AND THE LIKE BRIEF SUMMARY OF THEINVENTION Prior art hand brush members have been used for gatheringand/or picking up crumbs and the like as the sweeper unit is moved overa surface, however, so far as is known to applicants, none of suchdevices provide means in engagement with the brush bristles or brushmember for dislodging the pick-up crumbs from said brush, therefore, oneof the principal objections to such prior art constructions is that thepicked-up crumbs which are gathered on the brush remain on the brush asit continues to rotate, thus reducing the effectiveness of the brush andits pick-up function. In other words, the crumbs adhere to the brushwhich results in the brush surface being covered with such crumbs andreduces the clean brush area for effective pickup. These objections areobviated with this invention as means are provided in the path of therotating brush for removing the crumbs from the brush.

Another object of this invention is to provide the means whereby as thebrush rotates it is constantly in engagement with means which tend todislodge the picked-up material on the brush bristles and to cause saidpicked-up material to be moved and deposited into troughs so that as thebrush continues to rotate it always presents a clean pickup surface andeffectively performs the sweeping action.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the crumb sweeper with the housing inclosed position.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view with the housing in open position and with afragmentary view of the brush.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view taken from the underside.

FIG. 4 is an end elevational view of the housing in the position of FIG.2, with a portion in section showing the fingers for dislodging thecrumbs from the brush.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on line 55 of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 6 is a sectional .view taken on line 6-6 of FIG. 2.

The sweeper which is hand held and operated has a casing or housinggenerally designated by the numeral 110 which is formed of a pair ofsections 12 and M connected together at a hinge line indicated at 16 sothat both sections, including the hinge portion thereof, is integrallymolded of a plastic material, such as polypro pylene, polyallomer, andthe like, in an injection molding machine. The section 12 is the lowersection and it supports and contains the rotatable brush member,hereinafter described. The other section M is the upper section and itforms the closure or cover of said housing and, as shown in FIGS. 1 and5, is adapted to be detachably secured to the lower section along thefree edge thereof.

The upper section 1141 has a top wall which is molded to provide aplurality of longitudinally spaced and inwardly extending fingers orprongs generally designated by the numeral 18. As shown, the fingers 118are arranged in a pair of spaced lines and 211, the fingers or prongs ofone line being staggered with respect to the other line. The fingers 18have a generally conical shape with a pointed tip 22.

The lower section 12 has a bottom wall 2d which is molded to provide anelongated opening 26. The lower section 12 is also provided with a pairof troughs 28, each trough extending the length of the lower section andeach trough being adjacent the central elongated opening 26.

The end walls 30 of the lower section 112 are molded to form inwardlyextending extensions 32 which are open at the bottom. The extension 32has a downwardly extending portion 34 provided with a generally U-shapedrecess 36 which receives the ends 38 of the brush shaft 40 and whichserve as journals therefor. The U-shaped recesses 36 in said extensionshave open faces which face towards the bottom of the lower section sothat the brush shaft 40 may be inserted therein through the bottomopening of the lower section.

The rotatable brush member generally indicated at 42 is formed of a pairof wire members 44 interwound with the bristles or brush members 416secured therebetween so that the bristles extend radially outward ofsaid intertwined metal wires to form an annular brush. The intertwinedwire members 44 are substantially rigid to form the brush shaft 40.Secured on the brush shaft adjacent each of the opposite ends 38 of thebrush shaft is an annular disk 48. The ends 38 of the brush shaft extendlaterally outwardly of the disks 48 and are adapted to be received inthe recesses 36 of the extensions 32 so that the brush member isrotatably supported.

The brush unit is inserted in the lower section 12 of the housingthrough the bottom of the elongated opening 26. The opposite ends 38 ofthe brush shaft are seated in the recesses 36 and are normally retainedtherein to prevent accidental displacement thereof. While FIG. 5 showsthe bottom wall 24 directly under the downwardly extending portion 34which forms the bearing for the rotatable brush shaft, it is clear thatthe bottom wall 24 only extends inwardly a slight distance from each end30 at the opposite ends of the elongated opening 26 so as not tointerfere with the insertion of the ends 33 of the brush shaft from'theunderside, as can best be seen in FIG. 3.

Extending upwardly of the bottom wall 241 along the length of opening 26and immediately adjacent thereto are walls 69, the inner surface 39 ofwhich has a radius to conform substantially to that of the brush member.The inner surface 419' of said walls is spaced slightly from the brush,as best seen in FIG. 6, so as not to interfere with the rotation of thebrush.

As can best be seen in FIG. 5, when the two housing sections 112 and 14are closed, the upper section 14 forms the lid or covering of thehousing and encloses the upper portion of the rotatable brush. The brushbristles of the brush unit extend through the elongated bottom opening26 so that when the unit is manually passed over a surface which has thecrumbs, the brush bristles exposed by the elongated opening 26 willextend beyond the bottom plane of the bottom housing, as seen in FIGS. 5and 6, and as the unit is manually moved over the surface and is pressedagainst the surface the brush will rotate and pick up the crumbs orother matter from the table surface. Also the disks 68 which have adiameter slightly less than the diameter of the brush will engage thetable surface which is engaged by the bristles.

As the brush is rotating during its pickup operation, the bristles willalso be engaged by the inwardly extending fingers or prongs 18 whichwill cause the material picked up by the bristles to be dislodged fromthe bristles and as the brush continues to rotate the dislodged materialwill pass into the two troughs 28. Therefore, the fingers 18 whenengaging the rotating brush serve to, in effect, clean the gathered orpicked-up material from the bristles so that the bristles as theycontinue to rotate over a surface are more or less kept cleared of thegathered or picked-up material and will continue to pickup and gatherthe material, thereby sweeping the surface. This precedure continues sothat the brush continues to present a clean pickup bristle surface.

The elongated opening 26 in the lower section 12 is enlarged at itsopposite ends, as indicated at 50, to accommodate the rotating disks 48.

The upper section 14 is shaped to form along the front wall 52 adepending hook 54 which is centrally positioned and which is adapted tocooperate with an opening in the latch 56 formed adjacent the upper edgeof the lower section 12 so that the two cooperate to form the lockingmeans when they are inter-engaged so that the upper section isdetachably secured and/or locked to the lower section to form theenclosure for the housing, as shown in FIG. 1. The upper section 14 maybe unlocked from the lower section 12 by pressing inwardly against theupper front wall to withdraw the hook 54 from the latch opening tounlatch the two sections. By hinging or moving the upper section awayfrom the lower section the brush member and the troughs may be exposed.

Since in the normal operation of the device the brush member is pressedagainst the surface to be cleaned, the pressure will tend to maintainthe brush member in the journal support 34, that is, the pressure willmove the brush inwardly in the direction of the interior of the housingrather than outwardly so that the brush member will be retainedtherewithin. However, the brush member may be removed therefromexteriorly through the bottom opening 2 6 of the bottom section 12.

What is claimed is:

1. A crumb sweeper comprising a housing having a lower portion and anupper portion, with said upper portion having a top wall integrallymolded of plastic material and connected by an integrally molded hinge,said lower portion having an elongated opening at the bottom thereof, abrush member rotatably supported in said lower housing with the bristlesof said brush adapted to extend through said elongated opening so thatsaid bristles extend outwardly below the bottom of said housing, saidlower portion having an integrally formed trough adjacent said brush,said upper portion of the housing having a plurality of spaced fingersintegrally molded with the top wall of said upper portion and centrallypositioned on said top wall and extending inwardly into said housing forengagement with said rotating bristles of said brush so that the crumbspicked up by said brush are removed from said bristles as said brush isrotating in the same direction as when the crumbs were picked up by saidrotating brush and deposited in said trough.

2. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which said lower portion ofsaid housing is provided with a pair of troughs with the rotatable brushmember positioned therebetween so that when the fingers remove thematerial picked up by said brush said material will fall into saidtrough members.

3. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which the brush member has adisk on each of the opposite ends thereof, which disks extend exteriorlyof the opening.

4. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which the lower portion of thehousing has a pair of spaced end walls each of which has an integrallymolded extension extending inwardly, which extensions have a generallyU-shaped recess to receive the ends of the brush shaft and serve asjournals therefor.

5. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which the spaced fingers areeach of generally conical shape with a pointed tip.

6. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which a plurality of rows offingers are provided, with the fingers of one row staggered with respectto the other row.

1. A crumb sweeper comprising a housing having a lower portion and anupper portion, with said upper portion having a top wall integrallymolded of plastic material and connected by an integrally molded hinge,said lower portion having an elongated opening at the bottom thereof, abrush member rotatably supported in said lower housing with the bristlesof said brush adapted to extend through said elongated opening so thatsaid bristles extend outwardly below the bottom of said housing, saidlower portion having an integrally formed trough adjacent said brush,said upper portion of the housing having a plurality of spaced fingersintegrally molded with the top wall of said upper portion and centrallypositioned on said top wall and extending inwardly into said housing forengagement with said rotating bristles of said brush so that the crumbspicked up by said brush are removed from said bristles as said brush isrotating in the same direction as when the crumbs were picked up by saidrotating brush and deposited in said trough.
 2. A structure as set forthin claim 1 in which said lower portion of said housing is provided witha pair of troughs with the rotatable brush member positionedtherebetween so that when the fingers remove the material picked up bysaid brush said material will fall into said trough members.
 3. Astructure as set forth in claim 1 in which the brush member has a diskon each of the opposite ends thereof, which disks extend exteriorly ofthe opening.
 4. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which the lowerportion of the housing has a pair of spaced end walls each of which hasan integrally molded extension extending inwardly, which extensions havea generally U-shaped recess to receive the ends of the brush shaft andserve as journals therefor.
 5. A structure as set forth in claim 1 inwhich the spaced fingers are each of generally conical shape with apointed tip.
 6. A structure as set forth in claim 1 in which a pluralityof rows of fingers are provided, with the fingers of one row staggeredwith respect to the other row.